why does ebay force us to use paypal with buy it now if item is collection only.

Isambard_Brunel

The title speaks for itself, I prefer to be patient & wait for buyers to pay a fair price than gamble with auctions. But for buy it now transactions we're obliged to use paypal. ebay now nags buyers for a paypal payment even if it's local collection only. The latest is that listings get taken down if you write 'cash only' etc in the description.
It wouldn't be so annoying if it weren't for paypal charging nearly 7% just to run a website, and there not being any competitive service offered.

OK this just sounds like a moan, but what can we do about it? shame them in the finance pages of national press? monopolies & mergers commission (or EU equivalent).

I'm not the biggest fan of facebook either, but facebook marketplace might lead ebay to up their game.
Maybe amazon ought to target amateur sellers more?

soolin

Isambard_Brunel wrote: »

The title speaks for itself, I prefer to be patient & wait for buyers to pay a fair price than gamble with auctions. But for buy it now transactions we're obliged to use paypal. ebay now nags buyers for a paypal payment even if it's local collection only. The latest is that listings get taken down if you write 'cash only' etc in the description.
It wouldn't be so annoying if it weren't for paypal charging nearly 7% just to run a website, and there not being any competitive service offered.

OK this just sounds like a moan, but what can we do about it? shame them in the finance pages of national press? monopolies & mergers commission (or EU equivalent).

I'm not the biggest fan of facebook either, but facebook marketplace might lead ebay to up their game.
Maybe amazon ought to target amateur sellers more?

All listings, whether auction or BIN will have PayPal as the default option. The only exception is for the car and motor categories where PayPal can be removed as a payment option.

Collection only items are problematic, forget the fees- the danger lies with giving up seller protection, it's all covered in the sticky thread here s board about the problems of collection only items. If you want to target collection only sales then stick with Facebook or SHpock.

As for the fees, all merchant services charge a fee, it's isn't just a basic website after all and it is naive to think that's all there is to PayPal. Regardless of where you sell the moment you do online sales rather than face to face you are going to want a payment service, you are unlikely to find many that are cheaper than PayPal. Yes there are free options like bank transfers, but buyers aren't daft, they know that paying without any protection is a bad idea, so if you can't offer them a safe payment method they won't buy.

Then, going onto your mention of Amazon, have you really not looked at their fee structure? they make eBay and PayPal look quite reasonable !

mrcol1000

Set up your own auction website. Do away with pesky buyer protection and charging people for using your website. Come back and let us know how you get on.

Pun

It doesn't just sound like a moan, it is a moan! If you don't like using ebay and paypal, sell elsewhere. You don't have to use ebay.

badmemory

catch 22. Don't use their site, don't pay their fees (both ebay & paypal). Don't use their site, don't earn enough so you couldn't pay their fees anyway. Alternative is obviously to find another site to use to sell through.

George_Michael

The worry about being scammed wouldn't be so much of a problem if paypal actually followed their own rules for buyer protection and didn't allow disputes for goods not received to be opened when the ebay listing stated that the item was for collection only.

RFW

soolin wrote: »

Then, going onto your mention of Amazon, have you really not looked at their fee structure? they make eBay and PayPal look quite reasonable !

Having used both over long periods of time, as a pro seller they're pretty much the same. Private sellers seem to get a harder deal on Amazon but high priced items probably balance out.

As far as the OP goes there's no way of getting a sale on Amazon without using their payment system. On Ebay you can suggest after the sale that the buyer pays cash on collection, I've not done it for a while but I've never known a buyer refuse.

soolin

RFW wrote: »

Having used both over long periods of time, as a pro seller they're pretty much the same. Private sellers seem to get a harder deal on Amazon but high priced items probably balance out.

As far as the OP goes there's no way of getting a sale on Amazon without using their payment system. On Ebay you can suggest after the sale that the buyer pays cash on collection, I've not done it for a while but I've never known a buyer refuse.

That was always my problem, my stock is low value so the fees really hit me on Amazon.

Another to add to the list of sites that charge fees is etsy, again on low value items etsy take a high percentage both for payment charges and then selling fees.

RFW

soolin wrote: »

That was always my problem, my stock is low value so the fees really hit me on Amazon.

Another to add to the list of sites that charge fees is etsy, again on low value items etsy take a high percentage both for payment charges and then selling fees.

I wouldn't know about Etsy fees, I never managed to sell anything on there! Folksy have a weird fee structure too, I listed 50 of one item in one listing and was charged 50 listing fees, never got any page hits.
Both seem as though the sellers have to do all the work to get customers which I can do on my own website.

Sounds like I'm the reverse on Ebay and Amazon. As I'm low volume on Ebay, my fees, with a shop page, are currently at over 50% of sales, I'm letting it run for a few months to see if I can get some products selling well. My guess is I'll quit Ebay again in January and just use it for selling clearance.